Be a night-time animal!

To get to know the animals that come out at night, play let’s pretend and imagine being a real wild animal.

You are a bat

You start the night hanging upside down! Now fly out, open your wings and flutter about like a bat. Snap your mouth shut when you catch a moth. Yum!

Did you know?

Bats are the only mammals that can fly. Although sometimes people think of bats as flying mice, they are actually more closely related to humans.

A bat’s wing has similar bones to those of our hands and arms, with the wing membrane made up of skin stretched between the bat’s long finger bones and its body.

Stretch out your arms, spread your fingers wide and imagine you had wings!

Bat

You are a mole

You have huge, powerful shoulders and great big strong arms. Pretend you are digging your tunnels underground. Dig! Dig! Dig!

Did you know?

Moles spend most of their time underground, so you would be very lucky indeed to see one.

They eat earthworms and insects grubs, and build up huge stores of worms in underground larders. Perfect for a quick snack!

You are a worm

Lie on the ground and make yourself long and skinny. Hold your arms out in front of you and wiggle like a worm.

Did you know?

Worms are actually incredibly strong – around 1,000 times stronger than people – they move through the earth by stretching and contracting their strong muscles, while using bristles on their skins as anchors.

See how far you can move along the ground, without using your hands, feet, knees or elbows.

You are a tawny owl

You need two people for this. Imagine you are sitting on your perch in a tree. Make sure your feet are holding onto the branch. Hoot to the other person: “Too-whit!”. The other person answers: “Too-woo!”

Did you know?

The famous phrase “Too-whit, too-woo” is actually one tawny owl saying “too-whit” and the other answering “too-woo.”

Like almost all owls, tawny owls make almost no noise when they fly. Stretch out your wings and see how quietly you can fly!

Tawny owl

You are a hedgehog

You start the night curled up in a ball and fast asleep. Curl up as tight as you can, then wake up and uncurl.

It’s time to look for some crunchy beetles to eat. Crawl on all fours as fast as you can. Hedgehogs are speedy beasts.

Did you know?

Make sure you make lots of loud snuffling noises as you eat your pretend beetles, worms and snails. Hedgehogs are incredibly noisy eaters and were given the name “hog” because of their pig-like snouts and eating habits.

Hedgehog

Make animal masks

Which will you choose?

What would it be like to sleep in the day and come out at night? Print out and make your own nocturnal animal mask.